What Is DOMA?

The advocacy group Freedom to Marry, Inc. states that DOMA is the abbreviation for the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law that denied legally married, same-sex couples the same government protections given to married couples of the opposite sex. The law was signed by President Bill Clinton.

In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled Section 3 of the Act in the case of Windsor v. United States unconstitutional, unjust and discriminatory. Freedom to Marry, following the impact and implementation of the Supreme Court ruling, states that fair and equal treatment by the federal government and its agencies to married, same-sex couples is ongoing. The remaining sections of the law are yet to be addressed or overturned.